Super Bowl: Ticket Prices Drop

(CNN) The Super Bowl countdown is on! The Big Game is this Sunday and the NFL estimates it will have a $550 million impact for the New York area. But that may not actually happen.

Ticket prices are dropping—shaping up to be the cheapest since 2002, right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to online trackers.

The average price paid for a Super Bowl ticket on the inflated secondary resale market plummeted 40% from just over a week ago—to around $2,050. That’s cheaper than most of the Super Bowl tickets in years past, says SeatGeek, an online broker.

“Many of them seem to say they're waiting for prices to fall, even a little bit more, can I get a ticket for $1,000 in the upper deck, can I get a ticket for 1500 in the mezzanine level,” said Will Flaherty, director of communications for SeatGeek.com.

At a press conference Monday, NFL officials say there’s no reason for concern.

“The secondary market is very strong, it ebbs and flows, if you look at it from one day to the next you're going to see things going up and down as has happened in every super bowl that we've been able to get data,” said NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman.

A big plunge on game week is unusual. It all comes down to supply and demand. Online ticket broker TiqIQ says there are currently 16,635 seats remaining.

So—why the drop in demand? Weather for one. Many fans choosing to watch at home instead of braving freezing temps at an outdoor stadium. And the fact that most fans of the teams are all the way across the country from Metlife Stadium in New Jersey doesn’t help.

Some New York hotels told CNN they are also falling short of the Super Bowl rush—with more vacancies than you’d expect, for a premier event.

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